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In another fifteen to twenty years our crafts industry will be dead or on life support. From my observation a great percentage of the young generation cares for fast dollars.Many pieces takes patience to produce and with each passing piece skill is improved. It takes years to master an art and even after its been mastered there’s always something new to be learnt.

Craft in Barbados sounds cheap. The word itself sounds cheap. It’s interpreted as a bargin. I stopped going to craft shows for the mere fact that I don’t want to bargin my pieces which in some cases probably took more time to make than a Cartier bracelet. They’re other reasons why I stopped going to shows but that’s besides my point here.

When I made the decision not to continue craft fairs it was a little scary. That’s what helped me to make some capital but I knew I didn’t want continue doing them. Now a new strategic journey has begun,one that ensures value to my art.

In business your first plan may not work, the second or third either. Working for a company becomes a delightful thought. Listing the pros becomes easy, not worrying about rent or restocking materials, paying off debts, dealing with some of the most unsatisfying people and all the other perks. All the pluses of being an employee seems favorable but some of us are trapped in our profession. …….like me. There’s nothing else I know how to do better.

Ten years in a single field of work fills your mind with a wealth of knowledge and it’s an investment, one which sadly may not pay off until generations later. When current plans fail you have to analyze and try to maybe adapt the business in order to remain competitive or in business for a matter a fact.

My plans failed and left me dismal for while but a phone call to an art consultant in California breathed a new strategy into play. It took a few months for his expertise to digest. It was just one question he asked that stuck in my mind.